Liberia: MTM Situation - 'A Tip of the Iceberg'

Facia Harris, the spokesperson of the group in a petition to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Gender and other government agencies, said they were deeply troubled by the ProPublica report released on October 11, detailing the incidents of rape, sexual abuse and exploitation of the Liberian girls under the care of the More Than Me Academy



Amid the public outburst of anger and indignation over the rape and abuse of over a dozen girls by a staff of the More Than Me (MTM) Academy, along with attempts by its founder, Katie Meyler, to cover-up evidence and protect the culprit, Macintosh Johnson (now deceased), the chair of the SHEROES International Forum Liberia, Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor, believes the situation is much bigger than More Than Me. "A tip of the iceberg", she called it.

Speaking at her Capitol Building office last week, in a prelude to the launch the 'Jewel Starfish Foundation' to provide scholarship and other education empowerment for girls across Liberia, VP Taylor said the More Than Me issue mainly highlights problems the country faces to enable the Liberian people to understand how vulnerable girls are in society.

"We must look at it holistically to help us solve the problem our girls are going through in their homes, schools, and offices," the vice president said. "The issue of protecting girls should be highlighted on the government's agenda through the Ministries of Gender and Justice."

Madam Taylor said teachers in various institutions are harassing girls for sex or money because they have refused to study their lessons to make a pass and noted that women and girls are often abused by people they know not by strangers because most abuses are done by men though there are some cases of women.